Corrugation in hopper doors for railway cars



g v. E. SISSON CORRUGATION IN HOPPER DOORS FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Aug. 17, 1925 2 Sheets Sheet l Invenzor Aug. 9 1927.

CORRUGATION IN HOPPER DOORS FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Aug. 17. 1925 2 Sheets-SheetZ .jzzvenior.)

Patented Au 9, 1927.

Y 1,638,162? PATENT OFFICE.

VINTON E. SISSON, OF CHICAGO, ILL INOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNION METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

CORRUGATION. IN norrnn Application filed August The invention relates to a railway dump car having a door forming a part of the car for retaining the load therein, which door is provided with hinges adjacent one of its sides and is capable of being dropped or swung open so that the load in discharging slides or passes over the upper surface of the door. Any means of raising the door to the closed position and any means for locking and releasing the door may be em ployed with my device. Experience has shown that a slight projection on the upper surface of such a door causes the discharging load to bank up. and seriously retard the unloading of the car sometimes completely obstructing the open ing and at other times causing some of the material to remain in the car. It is essential that the entire load be discharged when the doors are dropped in order to conserve time when the cars are being used to ballast a main line track, or to eliminate the necessity of maintaining men to remove any small portion of the load that remains in the car after the doors are dropped.

The relative position of the rail, the truck- (and other parts of the car) and service conditions also regulate the inclination of the door after it is dropped so that it is seldom possible to allow the doors to drop to a vertical position; in fact, in a drop bottom gondola car the doors are positioned only about thirty degrees from a horizontal plane when in the open position.

A door for this purpose muststrong and durable because:

First: It is part of the floor of the car and as such must sustain the load as well as the impact blow when the car isin motion.

Second: The car is frequently loaded from chutes or tipples from a height of ten feet or more, causing the load to be dropped directly upon the doors.

Third: Clam shell buckets are frequently used to unload such cars and. it is iiot uncommon for these buckets to rest upon and drag over the doors.

Fourth: lVhen the door suddenly comes to rest after being dropped it is not only subjected to a severe shock but it must sustain the severe impact thrust of the load which, of course, follows the door.

Fifth: As the load is theoretically equally distribi'it d, the door must be strong over its entire ditions.

be very I Y leaving the car.

must be capable of transmit DOORS FOR RAILWAY CARS.

17, 1925. Serial No. 50,726.

ting the resulting strains to the car body, without much deflection and no substantial distortion. Any bending of the door or drooping of the corners would cause a leak of the lading, especially of such fine material as sand, chats, etc. Any bending or warping might interfere with the complete closing and locking of the door.

As itcosts as much to haul a ton of car as it does to haul a ton of paying freight, it is imperative that "the car and any part thereof be as light as possible, Further more, the total weight of car and freight is determined, by thestrength of certain standard axles, so that the lighter the car the greater amount of freight a given car will be allowed to carry.

Various means have been used to strengthen a plate' metal doorto meet the service con- Reinforcements have been secured to the door, thus materially increasing its .weight which is objectionable.

integral reinforcements (such as corrugations) have been formed in metallic plates, which, however, interfere with the discharge ofthe loadingor have other objectionable features. i

In my design the door is provided with a plurality of preferably parallel corrugations which extend from the hinge side of the door toward the outer side thereof, or in other words, in the direction of the moving lading While discharging. Owing to the peculiar and particular relation of the corrugations to the original plane of the plate and to each other, neither the corrugations nor their. terminations presentany pockets or projections to interfere with the free discharge of the ladino which is accomplished without sacrificing strength as the corrugated plate is of maximum strength (and of equal strength) between lines adjacent the inner and outer sides of the door.

One of the objects of the invention is to obtain a strong durable door for a load discharging freight car made of a metallic plate formed with integral corrugations which are positioned approximately parallel to the direction of discharge of the lading but are of such configuration as not to interfere with tlldlDQVGlTlQnt of the cargowhen Various the planes bounding the apexes of the corrugations and yet the corrugations will not interfere with the discharge of the cargo.

Another object of the invention is to form reinforcing corrugations in a metallic plate hopper door which extend parallel to the direction of discharge of the lading but do not present any pockets or projections to interfere with the movement of the lading leaving the car.

The advantages of my door are applicable to any door of a freight car over which the lading moves when being discharged from the car, such as drop bottom general service e rs (used in the drawings), hopper cars, swinging side doors or hopper bottom coal cars, etc.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a part of a railway car with my device applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 2 but shows the door in open position.

Fig. 4 is a detail drawing of the door shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a section on line .66 of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a section on line 7-? of Fig. 4. Fig. 8 is a section on line 88 of Fig. 4. Fig. 9 is a section on line 9-9 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 10 is similar to Fig. 5 and shows a modification.

Fig. 11 is similar to Fig. modification.

To illustrateone adaptation of my device, I have shown a so-called general service drop bottom gondola car wherein the major portion of the floor consists of drop doors. The door openings are surrounded by the center construction, side wall and cross diaphragms. In normal or closed position the door completely closes this opening and, in fact, is a trifle larger on all sides than the opening so as to provide a lap joint between the door and the car frame members. The hinge-beams are hinged to the center construction and are supported adjacent the side wall by the raising or locking mechanism. Any convenient stop, such as 2, may be used to limit the downward movement of the door.

The door is made of a metallic (preferably steel) plate formed with a plurality of integral corrugations or reinforcing ribs preferably (though not necessarily) terminating within the sides of the door so as to leave a flat margin 4 surrounding the corrugated portion of the plate. This flat margin is in the original plane of the plate and is in a single plane at all four sides of the door so as to simplify application of the door to the car as this margin is in contact with the adjacent car parts and forms the seal for the lading. The door may be made without this flat margin and still come With- 7 and shows a in the scope of the broader claims appended hereto.

I provide a plurality of downwardly projecting corrugations 5 having their maximum depth adjacent one side (preferably the hinge side) of the door and another plurality of corrugations 6 projecting upwardly having their maximum depth adjacent the opposite side of the door. These corrugations are preferably positioned alternately and preferably merge into each other to form a sinuous configuration. The apeXes of these oppositely projecting groups of corrugations are in parallel-planes 78 (Fig. 2) between the lines of maximum depth of the upwardly and downwardly projecting corrugations, respectively, which planes are positioned obliquely to the original plane 9 of the plate (and the margins). Any contour of corrugations may be used and it is not essential that they merge into each other, but it is desirable that the downwardly projecting corrugations decrease in depth consistently with the upwardly projecting corrugations so that the bounding planes 7-8 will be parallel and so that the cor rugated door will be of uniform strength for the major portion of its surface. Furthermore, with such an arrangement the neutral axis of the corrugated portion oi the plate (or door) is midway between the bounding planes, and as steel is substantially equal in tensile and compressive strength, this gives a balanced beam.

Fig. 10 shows a construction wherein the corrugations 5-6 merge into perpendicular flanges 1011 provided at the opposite sides of the door. 7

Fig. 11 shows a construction wherein the corrugations 5'6 do not merge into each other and yet have the other desirable features.

In this application, as well as my application Serial No. 50,044, filed August 13, 1925, I have disclosed but not claimed, a door having a plurality of parallel. downwardly projecting embossments formed therein with fiat'places between some of said embossments having hinges parallel to said embossiuents and secured to the flat places, which structure, however, is claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 50.043, filed August '13, 1925.

I claim:

1. A door for a railway dump car made of a metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations terminating within the sides of the door so as to leave a flat margin in a single planesurrounding said corrugations projecting upwardly and downwardly with the apexes of the oppositely projecting corrugations in parallel planes positioned obliquely to said flat'margin.

2. A door for a railway dump car'made of a metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations terminating within the sides of the door so as to leave a flat margin in a single plane surrounding said corrugations projecting alternately upwardly and downwardly with the apexcs of the oppositely projecting corrugations in parallel planes positioned obliquely to said flat margin.

3. A door for a railway dump car made of a metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations terminating within the sides of the door so as to leave a flat margin in a single plane surrounding said corrugations, said corrugations projecting upwardly and downwardly with the apexes of the oppositely projecting corrugations in parallel planes positioned obliquely to the original plane of the plate.

4. A door for a railway dump car made of a metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations terminating within the sides of the door so as to leave a flat margin in a single plane surrounding said corrugations, said corrugations projecting alternately upwardly and downwardly with the apeXes of the oppositely projecting corrugations in parallel planes positioned obliquely to the original plane of the plate.

5. A door for a railway dump car made of a metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations terminating within the sides of the door so as to leave a flat margin in a single plane surrounding said corrugations, said corrugations projecting alternately upwardly and downwardly with the apexes of the oppositely projecting corrugations in parallel planes positioned obliquely to the original plane of the plate, said corrugations merging into each other to form a sinuous configuration.

6. A door for a railway dump car made of a metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations terminating within the sides 01 the door so as to leave a flat margin in a single plane surrounding said corrugations, said corrugations projecting alternately upwardly and downwardly with the apeXes of the oppositely projecting corrugations in parallel planes positioned obliquely to the original plane of the plate, said corrugations merging into each other to form a sinuous configuration with the neutral axis substantially midway between said planes.

7. A door for a railway dump car made of a metallic plate formed with a plurality of corrugations terminating within the sides of the door so as to leave a flat margin in a single plane surrounding said corrugations, said corrugations projecting alternately upwardly and downwardly with the apexesof ly to said flat margin, said corrugations V merging into each other to form a sinuous configuration with the neutral axis substantially midway between said planes.

9. A door for a railway dump car made of a metallic plate formed with a-plurality of downwardly projecting corrugations having a greater depth adjacent one side of the door than elsewhere, and a pluralityof upwardly projecting corrugations having a greater depth adjacent the other side of thedoor than elsewhere.

10. A door for a railway dump car made of a metallic plate formed with a plurality of downwardly projecting corrugations having a greater depth adjacent one side or" the door than elsewhere, anda plurality of upwardly projecting corrugations having ta greater depth adjacent the other side of the door than elsewhere, said corrugations positioned alternately.

11. In a railway dump car; the combination of a member and a door hinged thereto, said door formed withfa plurality of downwardly projecting corrugations having their maximum depth adjacent the hinge side of the door, and a plurality of upwardly projecting corrugations having their maximum depth adjacent the opposite side of the door having the apeXes of the oppositely projecting corrugations in parallel planes positioned obliquely to the original plane'ot the plate.

12. In a railway dump car; the combination of a member and a door hinged there'- to, said door formed with a plurality of downwardly projecting corrugations having their maximum depth adjacent the hinge side of the door, and a plurality of upwardly projecting corrugations having their maximum depth adjacent the opposite side of the door, said corrugations positioned alternately and having the apexes of the oppositely projecting corrugations in parallel planes positioned obliquely to the original plane of the plate.

VINTON E. SISSON. 

